PHOSITA

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. A person with average vocational or (more likely) professional knowledge in the field of a particular patent or invention.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Acronym of personhavingordinaryskillintheart.

Examples

One of the complaints we've had about the patent system and current patent law is that the law clearly says that patents should only be granted on things that are new and non-obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (the so-called PHOSITA).

England as a comparator: there, the criteria are similar; they use PHOSITA; they have similar discovery; claim construction is a matter for the judge; claim construction is typically outcome determinative.

So, what has complexity theory have to say about the tension between strong ‘closed’ IPR rights on the one hand and more ‘open’ systems of innovation that depend on the inherent creativity and inventiveness of persons skilled in the art PHOSITA in an increasingly global product development context?

A decision-maker can depend on these criteria, therefore, to identify motivations for combination that no PHOSITA has bothered to record or document, either because the combination seems basic, because technological advance is occurring rapidly, or for some other reason.